archive.is

I don’t drink caffeine after 1pm because it stays in the bloodstream for nine to ten hours, spiking cortisol levels during the night.

The truth is 85 per cent of weight loss results come from diet.

I used to survive on four to five hours of sleep. Alcohol and poor food choices were spiking my insulin levels and disrupting my ability to get proper rest. I’d also watch TV until midnight, or 2am at weekends.

Now, getting to bed is my goal. It’s the foundation of good physical, emotional and metabolic health.

Breakfast is eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms or homemade banana pancakes with raspberries, blueberries and natural yoghurt. Lunch will be salmon, cod or chicken with lots of pulses and veg. Not everything is made from scratch – I’m busy, so dinner might be Heck sausages with veg. Throughout the day, I’ll drink two to three litres of water with electrolyt... See more

Meals now look very different. But there’s no weighing, no measuring, no tracking, no calorie counting. I do it all by hand – ideally three palm-sized portions of protein a day and at least five fruit and vegetables. When you have enough protein, you’ll never think about snacking.

When most people think they're hungry, they’re actually dehydrated from drinking nothing but tea and coffee all day. I no longer think about food between meals.

I start my bedtime routine every morning. I get out into daylight within the first hour of waking up. It’s when our body produces the better-quality melatonin – the hormone that promotes good sleep.

I’m in bed for 10pm, up at 5.30am and I sleep solidly. In my experience, so many people try to fix their weight without solving their chronic sleep deprivation first. Sleep has a huge impact on our ghrelin and leptin hormones, which keep our appetite in check (ghrelin stimulates your desire to eat while leptin signals fullness).

What I needed was to find enjoyment and a compelling personal challenge, and that’s what I gave myself when I set out to climb Mont Blanc in the Alps.